Operational Drifting Buoys--Peaks or Plateaus?

Autonomous Marine Sensors (AMS´s), also called drifting data buoys, can provide low-cost, reliable data from the deep-ocean environment to operational weather/oceanographic models, forecasters, and researchers. We are concerned that the momentum generated in the past to develop and deploy AMS´s has been lost, and that this vital instrument technology has plateaued in terms of programs, use, and development. In this paper we will discuss some of the background of the operational AMS, the status of AMS technology today, some views on how we can move forward once again, and where we hope to be in 1O years.